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Franken suggests review of 1,585 absentee ballots

Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken
has told a Minnesota court he would agree to the opening and
possible counting of almost 1,600 still-sealed absentee ballots.

In a Saturday filing, Franken's lawyers submitted a list of
absentee voters whose rejected ballots they want to give another
look. About half the voter names also appear on a longer list
compiled by Republican Norm Coleman. The rest are distinct from the
Coleman roster.

Coleman is suing to overturn the results of a statewide recount
that had Franken ahead by 225 votes. He has argued that thousands
of absentee ballots were wrongly rejected by poll workers and
should count.

Coleman campaign spokesman Mark Drake said Franken's list is
weighted toward ballots that favor him. "The time has come for all
the valid votes of Minnesotans to count, not just the ones that
favor one candidate over another," Drake said.

A three-judge panel that has heard four weeks of testimony in
Coleman's lawsuit will ultimately decide which ballots get counted.
The case resumes Monday.